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Video: Standing behind S. Korea, U.S. reacts with restraint

Transcript of: Standing behind S. Korea, U.S. reacts with restraint

BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor:We begin with what may be the largest confrontation of its kind since the
Korean War
. Tonight
South Korea
is threatening enormous retaliation after an attack by
North Korea
, in a dangerous part of the world, where the chance of a nuclear confrontation already runs high on a good day. The first attack happened while most Americans were sleeping. It was after midnight
Eastern time
.
The North
fired a barrage of artillery at an island controlled by
South Korea
. Two soldiers were killed. After the volleys that followed, there were reports of dozens of homes and buildings on fire.
President Obama
has had morning and evening briefings. Here's a photograph of tonight's meeting in the situation room. Tensions remain high, with the
South
threatening a counterattack. We want to begin our reporting here tonight with our chief foreign affairs correspondent,
Andrea Mitchell
.
Andrea
, good evening.

ANDREA MITCHELL reporting:Good evening,
Brian
. This was basically an act of war. Arguably
North Korea
's worst attack on civilian targets since the
Korean War
. The big question tonight, why did
Pyongyang
do it, and how will
South Korea
respond? The crisis began routinely. Eight
PM
Monday night,
Eastern time
,
South Korea
is engaging in a military drill after notifying the
North
.
Midnight Eastern
, four hours later,
North Korea
starts firing dozens of rounds of artillery onto a highly-populated
South Korean
island, killing two
South Korean
marines, injuring dozens more, including civilians. For more than an hour,
North Korea
unleashes a barrage of artillery, about 80 shells.
South Korea
scrambles
F-16
fighter jets and returns fire almost immediately.
3:55 AM
,
President Obama
is awakened by the
national security
adviser,
Tom Donilon
.
4:33 AM
, the
White House
issues a written statement saying, "
The United States
strongly condemns this attack and calls on
North Korea
to halt its belligerent action." 9:15, the
Oval Office
,
Donilon
and
director of national intelligence
,
General James Clapper
, brief the president.
The US
decides not to respond or escalate, urging
South Korea
to show restraint. In
Seoul
,
South Korea
's President
Lee Myung
-bak meets with his generals and threatens "an enormous retaliation" if the
North
attacks again. In fact, this is the second attack from the
North
in eight months. In March,
Pyongyang
sank a
South Korean
ship, killing 46 sailors. Is all this a show of strength as
North Korea
's ailing leader,
Kim Jong Il
, prepares to turn over power to his youngest son,
Kim Jong-un
?

Mr. KENNETH LIEBERTHAL (Asia Expert):The younger
Kim
is being encouraged to show that he can be strong, that he's a tough guy. And so this is probably not the last such provocation we're going to see. And these are really acts of war.

MITCHELL:Special US envoy
Stephen Bosworth
, already in
Beijing
, pressed
China today
to get
Pyongyang
to stop its aggression.

Mr. STEPHEN BOSWORTH:We strongly believe that a multilateral diplomatic approach is the only way to realistically resolve these problems.

MITCHELL:China
, along with the US, signed the armistice in
1953
that ended the
Korean War
, and is obligated to help police the cease-fire. But
China
has been reluctant, reports
NBC Beijing
bureau chief
Adrienne Mong
.

ADRIENNE MONG reporting:China
is unlikely to do
America
's bidding, but this latest situation puts
Beijing
in a delicate position. As an ally of
North Korea
, it has considerable influence. But
China
is also concerned about regional stability and afraid of being overrun by refugees should
North Korea
collapse.

MITCHELL:In recent days,
North Korea
also shocked the US by revealing that, despite tough sanctions, it has built a sophisticated uranium enrichment plant potentially capable of producing powerful atomic bombs. The
Stanford
nuclear expert who saw that plant briefed Secretary of State
Clinton
today. Tonight the president is calling
South Korea
's president and the US officials here are hoping for a
united front
at the
United Nations
, even though that has not

stopped North Korea before. Brian:We're watching this one very closely.
Andrea Mitchell
, part of

A South Korean border guard mans a post through a fence draped with re-unification ribbons near the border village of Panmunjom in Paju, South Korea, on Dec. 22, 2010. South Korea vowed Wednesday to "punish the enemy" as hundreds of troops, fighter jets, tanks and attack helicopters prepared massive new drills near the heavily armed border a month after a deadly North Korean artillery attack.
(Wally Santana / AP)
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A North Korean defector takes part in a candle light vigil on the eve of the one month anniversary of the North Korea's attack on Yeonpyeong Island in downtown Seoul, South Korea, on Dec. 22.
(Ng Han Guan / AP)
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A combination of photos shows North Korean soldiers taking part in a shooting exercise at a field in Kaepoong county, on the north side of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, in this picture taken from south of the DMZ in Paju, about 31 miles north of Seoul, on Dec. 22.
(Jo Yong-hak / Reuters)
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Bae Bok-soon (R), an older sister of Bae Bok-chul, cries during the funeral for the two civilians who died when North Korea shelled Yeonpyeong Island on November 23, in Incheon, west of Seoul on De. 6.
(Jo Yong-hak / Reuters)
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Crew members watch as an F/A-18E Super Hornet lands on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS George Washington during a naval exercise with South Korea in the Yellow Sea on Tuesday, Nov. 30. The drills come amid heightened tension in the region after a North Korean artillery attack on South Korea's Yeonpyeong island last week.
(Park Ji-hwan / AFP - Getty Images)
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Staff watch radar screens in the Combat Direction Center on the USS George Washington during the military drills off South Korea.
(Wally Santana / AP)
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Former South Korean special agents whose mission was to infiltrate North Korea, sing a military song during a rally on the Yeonpyeong island, South Korea. About 85 former agents, who criticized the North's attack and urged the South Korean government to punish Pyongyang, landed the island Nov. 30 and said they would stay for a week to help with reconstruction.
(Lee Jin-man / AP)
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South Korean marines watch President Lee Myung-Bak's news conference on a television minitor on Yeonpyeong island on Nov. 29. Lee condemned North Korea's recent shelling of the South Korean border island, calling an attack against civilians an "inhumane" crime.
(Jeon Heon-Kyun / EPA)
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South Korean ships stage off the coast of South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island on Nov. 28 as war drills by the United States and South Korea began.
(David Guttenfelder / AP)
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South Korean protesters hold candles during a rally in Seoul opposing the military exercise between South Korea and the United States.
(Park Ji-hwan / AFP - Getty Images)
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South Korean women take cover inside a bomb shelter on Yeonpyeong Island after authorities sounded the alarm over a possible North Korean rocket attack on Nov. 28. It proved to be a false alarm.
(David Guttenfelder / AP)
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A North Korean soldier, right, looks back as she and another soldier patrol on a pathway along the bank of the Yalu River near Sinuiju, North Korea, Nov. 28.
(Andy Wong / AP)
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A South Korean police car is reflected in the shattered glass of a restaurant window along a seaside road on Yeonpyeong island on Nov. 27.
(David Guttenfelder / AP)
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Former South Korean marines burn images of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, right, and his son Kim Jong Un, during a rally Nov. 27 in Seoul.
(Wally Santana / AP)
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Kim Oh-bock, mother of Seo Jung-woo, a South Korean marine killed in the Nov. 23 North Korean bombardment, cries as she holds his casket during a funeral service Nov. 27 at a military hospital in Seongnam.
(Ahn Young-joon / AP)
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South Korean protesters denouncing North Korean attack on an island close to the border between the two nations burn a North Korean flag in Seoul on Nov. 24. After North Korea's strike, South Korea and the United States said they would launch four-day naval exercises in the Yellow Sea involving an American aircraft carrier.
(Jung Yeon-Je / AFP - Getty Images)
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A picture taken off television shows the moment of impact of one of the artillery shells fired by North Korea onto the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong.
(Reuters TV)
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Related video

This picture taken by a South Korean tourist shows
huge plumes of smoke rising from Yeonpyeong Island in the disputed waters of the Yellow Sea on Nov. 23. North Korea fired dozens of artillery shells onto the South Korean island, killing two people, setting homes ablaze and triggering retaliatory fire by the South. It was one of the most serious clashes between the two sides in decades.
(AFP - Getty Images)
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Editor's note:
This image contains graphic content that some viewers may find disturbing.